Conglomerate Unions and Transformations of Union Democracy

Confronted with membership losses and declining bargaining power, trade unions have engaged in both political and organizational responses. A frequent type of organizational response has involved the creation of conglomerate unions, which bring together workers from various sectors and occupations. Pointing out a number of parallels between organizational developments in trade unions and political parties, this article analyses the emergence of conglomerate unions as a cause and consequence of changing conceptions of union democracy. Drawing on two in‐depth case studies conducted in France and Germany, the article examines how trade unions perceive their situation and how they define a reform rationale based on increasing their organizational ‘efficiency’ and ‘effectiveness’. In accordance with this rationale, unions engage in mergers and create larger conglomerates, thereby centralizing decision‐making bodies and professionalizing their staff. The reform of trade unions’ internal organization, in turn, affects unions’ capacity for interest aggregation and representation.     

Should competition authorities care about conglomerate mergers?

Mergers and acquisitions may change competition even when they do not affect market structure, a case known as conglomerate mergers. In this paper, we explore a wave of acquisitions of higher education institutions by educational groups in Brazil, which allows us to disentangle the effects of conglomerate mergers and of horizontal mergers on price, quantity, and quality indicators. Our findings show that multiunit organizations are able to increase some quality indicators. As for the effect on price and quantity, results are different. For conglomerate mergers, we estimated an increase in the number of freshmen and tuition fees, whereas for acquisitions that lead to horizontal concentration there is no increase in quantity, just in prices. Also these effects are larger the smaller the market share of the acquired HEI. On the whole, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that multiunit operations increase efficiency, but only conglomerate mergers tend to pass those gains on to consumers. Results also indicate that greater caution should be taken in market extension mergers when the acquired firm has a clear dominant position.     

中国石油石化工业的业绩和部分竞争能力分析

我国石油石化业以三大石油石化公司(中石油、中石化、中海油)为产业核心。其竞争实力，正在快速跻身于世界石油大公司的行列。但尚存在较大差距，跨国经营程度、企业经营效益、企业规模、加油站营销水平等均不如国外大企业；石油资源的接替矛盾十分突出，石油可储采量低于采出量。因此，加快开发和增产国内原油，开拓和利用海外油气资源，跻身跨国经营行列，发展炼油石化的规模化经营，建立战略石油储备体系，减员增效，是实施中国石油工业可持续发展的战略所在。     

Using simulated mergers to evaluate corporate diversification strategies

This study suggests that simulated mergers can be used to help evaluate the effects of diversification on corporate performance. The results, which are consistent with a risk-reduction motive for conglomerate diversification, imply that conglomerate strategies focused on fewer and larger units may be advantageous in terms of certain measures of risk and return. Forecast error is used here to measure strategic risk, and return on equity is used to measure return.     

Diversification,restructuring and economic performance

During the 198Os, many conglomerates and other diversified firms reduced their diversification by refocusing on their core businesses. This paper provides an economic explanation for this phenomenon and empirically tests the hypotheses that emerge from the analysis. It is shown that refocusing is associated ex post with Profitability improvements.     

Merger statistics and merger policy

It is widely believed that the 1950 amendment of Section 7 of the Clayton Antitrust Act has diverted merger activity away from horizontal and into conglomerate forms. Examination of the Federal Trade Commission Large Merger Series replicates existing substantiation of this belief, but only up until 1968. Further examination of the data shows a perceptible weakening of the horizontal-merger deterrent in the following eight years. One possible explanation is that all the attention devoted to the “conglomerate problem” after 1968 implied that horizontal mergers were neither as bad nor as illegal as existing case law had made them.     

Conglomerate mergers and subsequent industry effects

The focus of most studies of conglomerate mergers has been on the effects on companies involved. Of more direct relevance to antitrust policy is the question of industry effects of this type of merger. This article looks at eleven cases of “large firm/leading firm” conglomerate mergers completed between 1958 and 1970 and examines census data to see if structure or performance of the acquired “leading firm's” market was altered due to the merger. The results suggest that industry structure is not significantly affected, but that there may be adverse performance effects when the acquired firm is a leader in an unconcentrated market with substantial entry barriers.     

Corporate strategic management and the overseas chinese groups

Overseas Chinese entrepreneurs have been said to possess a certain number of cultural characteristics which inhibit their ability to manage large complex enterprises.Building upon the author's experience in Southeast Asia and upon data collected in six major conglomerates in Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia, this article discusses some of the organisational mechanisms used by Chinese corporations for their strategic management.The conclusions are that Chinese culture does not apriori create a barrier to modern multibusiness management. Factors other than cultural, such as environmental risks, opportunities and stage of development may explain the strategic management style of Overseas Chinese corporations.     

Asset diversification,firm risk,and risk-based capital requirements in banking

The implications of diversification by firms for risk has been raised particularly in connection with conglomerate mergers. This issue is of special interest in banking now because of a recently implemented policy — risk-based capital guidelines. This study presents results of an empirical investigation into the relationship between diversification of a bank's financial assets and indicators of the risk of insolvency. Results indicate that financial asset diversification, as well as geographic diversification, are related to lower risk.     

基于Multi-agent的超市集团IDSS研究

在充分分析了分布式超市集团智能决策支持系统中使用多代理(Multi-agent)技术的可能性和灵活性的基础上,提出了一个基于Multi-agent的3层结构的超市集团智能决策支持系统(athree-layer structure of the IDSS for supermarket conglomerate decision support,SC-IDSS)。SC-IDSS建立在分布的数据库、模型库、知识库的基础上,包括用户层(client layer),决策逻辑层(deci-sion logic layer)和数据服务层(data service layer)3层。原型系统的实现使用Eclipse技术,代理配置在FIPA-OS(foundation for intelligent physical agents-open-source)环境,利用J2EE(java 2enterprise edition)开发基于知识的代理推理功能。     

Liberalisation policy,industry structure and productivity changes in Korea’s telecommunications industry

The paper examines the efficiency implications of the liberalisation policy in Korea’s telecommunications industry. The paper develops a contextual understanding of the Korean evolutionary path and discusses various transitional difficulties and additional complications posed by business conglomerates that Korea confronted. Examining factors affecting efficiency, the paper shows how the government commitment to the liberalisation schedule imposed a credible competitive threat to the incumbent carriers and enhanced dynamic efficiency of the industry.     

Measuring organizational performance in the absence of objective measures: The case of the privately-held firm and conglomerate business unit

Strategic management researchers often encounter problems obtaining objective measures of selected aspects of organizational performance that are reliable and valid. With privately-held firms, such data are frequently unavailable. With conglomerate business units, all or parts of such data are inextricably interwoven with corporate-wide data. This paper examines the usefulness of subjective performance measures, obtained from top management teams, when problems are encountered in obtaining accurate performance data.     

PREDICTED CHANGE IN OPERATIONAL SYNERGY AND POST-ACQUISITION PERFORMANCE OF ACQUIRED BUSINESSES

The 1980s acquisitions are widely believed to have unwound the conglomerate boom of the 1960s through horizontal mergers, yet alternative forms of unwinding have not been examined. This study tests the explanation that changes in the opportunity to share resources and activities among businesses of the firm may have contributed to post-acquisition performance improvements in the recent acquisition wave. After estimating the sources of competitive performance that are due to these changes within each of 356 manufacturing industries, the study calculates predictions of changes in competitive performance for each acquired business between 1980 and 1984. The predictions are positive and in turn are positively associated with change in competitive performance between 1984 and 1986. This finding highlights the importance of resource sharing and activity sharing in these acquisitions, and leads to the reexamination of theories for the second acquisition wave that are supported by the finding of horizontal acquisitions.     

The Treatment of Market Power in Korea

Competitive forces have been relatively weak in Korea. Control of the chaebols' diversified expansion and conglomerate power has been a primary object of government policies. Competition law and policy has been expanded to include direct controls on chaebols, but it has been rather ineffective in resolving chaebol-related problems mainly because of insufficient attention having been paid to the problems of market power. Attempts to rein in chaebols by direct controls, without enhancing competitive forces, will be in vain, insofar as chaebol problems are really symptoms of their entrenched market potions in a non-competitive environment.     

企业合作创新博弈中复杂性与演化均衡稳定性分析

合作博弈具有有限理性、自主性、动态性、经济性等特点,针对当前合作博弈研究中完全信息、静态决策和理性决策等的局限性,文章运用演化博弈理论方法,构建了基于信任治理的演化博弈均衡模型,分析了参与博弈主体的动态演变过程。研究结果表明,网络信任治理状况的演化方向与双方博弈的支付矩阵相关,同时与系统初始状态相关。并得出监督成本、处罚力度,以及企业的社会责任是影响合作信任治理状况演变的关键因素。     

Implementing the unrelated product strategy

There has been considerable debate over the viability of the unrelated product, or conglomerate strategy. The financial arguments for and against its viability are well known. However, the administrative imperatives for its successful implementation have not been well investigated. The paper argues that there are a number of critical administrative contingencies for successful implementation of this strategy which only a few unrelated product firms have recognized. These concern policies dealing with acquisition, divestment, portfolio structure, management and organization. The paper discusses each in turn, describing specific instances of success and failure to illustrate the major points of the argument.     

完善公司治理结构与企业制度创新

我国国有企业已按建立现代企业制度的要求完成了公司制改造，但完善的公司治理结构却迟迟建立不起来，原因在于企业制度本身还有些问题没有解决，文章分析了美国和日本公司治理结构的差异，指出这种差异不是凭空产生的，而且是企业制度特别是企业产权制度决定的，脱离开企业产权制度而空谈治理结构是不可取的，公司治理结构，需要从企业制度创新上下功夫，首先要对照国际经验考虑我们的企业在产权制度改革上走什么样的路子，离子开这个前提照搬他国企业的治理结构是不妥的，我国企业制度亟待解决的问题是：落实有限责任，推进股权多元化、分散化、法人化。     

Oscillating between a relationship-based and a market-based model: The Salim Group

As institutional transitions in emerging economies intensify, the basis for competition is theorised to move from relationship-based to market-based. An in-depth analysis of the strategy of the Salim Group, one of the largest ethnic Chinese conglomerates in the Asia-Pacific region, supports the view that the strategy of this conglomerate can be understood as moving between the extremes of crony capitalism (the relationship-based model) and the existing Western norms for multinational business (the market-based model). Both models are essential for its success, but the former, relationship-based model seems more important in early times and the latter, market-based model becomes more significant during recent institutional changes. We also find evidence that the strategic movement between those extremes takes the form of irregular oscillatory dynamics.

Economic integration and new firm formation: Britain's impact on Irish enterprise

The paper examines the impact of economic integration on enterprise in a small open economy. The paper analyses large, small and total new company registrations in Ireland. It examines the impact of spill-overs from the United Kingdom labour and product markets on Irish firm formation. The study finds that negative labour market spill-overs dominate positive product market spill-overs so that a net negative effect results from Irish-British economic integration. The results indicate that enterprise in peripheral economies may be more vibrant if product market integration is introduced before labour market integration. The paper also finds enterprise to be positively affected by the number of university graduates in the labour force. House prices are found to have a net negative impact on enterprise.     

Effects of employees' perceived dependability on success of enterprise applications in e-business

Electronic business (e-business) plays a major role in modern economic networks due to its shorter cycle time and faster information transactions. Building enterprise applications that can coordinate activities, decisions, and knowledge across many functions is a good solution for e-business. Hence, how to implement enterprise applications successfully has become an increasingly important management issue. Although success of information systems (IS) has received fairly extensive attention from prior research, issues regarding whether functions and service delivered by systems can be justifiably relied on by users are seriously ignored, especially complex systems like enterprise applications. Thus, this paper attempts to extend this kind of concept, perceived dependability, into DeLone and McLean's IS success model to explore how it influences success of enterprise applications. Results from a survey of 170 respondents taken from six internationalized e-businesses in Taiwan strongly support that perceived dependability is indeed an important factor for success of enterprise applications. Additionally, over and beyond the effects of dependability on success of enterprise applications, it can help practitioners and managers get deep insights into how to implement e-business successfully.